U.S. History
Freedom Summer
The Freedom Summer took place in 1964. Thousands of civil rights workers, black amd white, northern and southern, spread throughout the south, but primarily into Mississippi(Alan Brinkley). It was run by the local Council of Federated Organizations, and led by organizations such as Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to organize a voter registration drive, which is also known as the Mississippi Summer Project, in order to increase in black voting in Mississippi and in South(history.com). Although black men had won the right to vote in 1870, many were unable to exercise that right (Freedom Summer).
Bob Moses and SNCC launched the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party(MFDP) to challenge the state's all white Democratic Party. In April 1964, SNCC opended an office fr the party in Washington, D.C., and MFDP held its first meeting in Jackson. Two hundreds delegates from across the state attended. Their first goal was to place four candidates on voting for the Mississippi Democratic as delegates to be sent to the Democratic Natioanl Convention, which woule be held in Atlanta. In August, the MFDP attracted more tham 2,000 pepople to a convention and selected sixty eight delegates to go to the national convention, including four whites. MFDP members made a powerful statement on the national state, and they won the hearts of American citizens, including many members of Congress(David Aretha).
The Freedom Summer officials also established 30 "freedom schools" towns throughout Mississippi to address the racial inequality in the education system(Freedom Summer). They taught the kids basic elements such as reading and math, while focusing on contemporary issues and developing leadership skills. The organizers knew that enven if they were able to vote, Mississsipians wouldn't be free from poverty if they were poorly educated. In additional to reading, writing and math, they also taught Free School students science, debate, dance, and foreign language. They learned American history that wasn't in their textbooks, including black history. The schools were a great success. More than 3,000 students attended, tripling the organizers' initial goal(David Aretha).
Citations:
Freedom Summer
David Aretha - Morgan Reynolds Pub. - 2008
Freedom Summer
http://www.core-online.org/History/freedom_summer.htm
History.com
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/freedom-summer
The Unfinished Nation
Alan Brinkley - McGraw-Hill - 2010
The Freedom Summer was successful. One of SNCC's dreams came true in August. A group of high school students formed the Mississipi Student Union, which passed resolutions for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Also, the federal government finally provoided money for schools, nutritioin programs, legal aid and healthy clinics(David Aretha).